Ronny Deila's words were as strong as they were surprising.

In a week that heralded further debate about the merit of artificial surfaces in the Scottish game, the Celtic boss told Dedryck Boyata exactly what he should have done on a pitch he previously described as "slippy".

"Rule number one, as a defender, is stay on your feet and run with people and it is something we have to learn from,” he said.

"When you have one versus one, you have to run with people. We have to run with them instead of taking chances."

The legitimacy of red card call was fiercely debated by fans and pundits with Deila changing his mind over the call after reviewing footage.

Nevertheless his original observations over Boyata's defending make you wonder how many more chances he’s willing to hand the former Manchester City man as he seeks to secure a domestic double as well as another shot at reaching the Champions League group stages.

As a former defender himself, and a manager who prides himself on developing players, it seems fair to assume that the Norwegian will have spent time at Lennoxtown trying to iron out the wrinkles in Boyata's game and the public nature of his criticism hints at frustration with his player.

Signed on the first day of June 2015, the Norwegian boss placed plenty of faith in Boyata as the man who could help fans forget about Jason Denayer as the defenders traded places. His trust has rarely been rewarded with elementary errors and a visible lack of experience leading to several rocky displays over the course of the campaign.

After breaking into the City first-team in 2010 at the age of 19, injuries and a lack of first-team football have contributed to Boyata's progress stalling and so he makes the sort of mistakes more commonly associated with a teenager.

Celtic's crowd, fiercely loyal and protective of their own, have been known to express their frustration at Boyata's lack of composure on the ball in addition to his rash decision making. A physically imposing presence in the opposition's penalty area, he is part of a back line that has had plenty of issues conceding goals from set plays throughout the term.

Scepticism over his displays appear to extend beyond the stands and social media and towards the management with January recruit Erik Sviatchenko looking a more credible partner for summer signing Jozo Simunovic, when the Croatian returns from injury.

As has been the case in recent years Celtic's January business has two main purposes - to ensure they complete their objectives for the current campaign as well as preparing the team for challenging summer qualifiers. With that in mind, can the club trust a defence with Boyata at its heart or will they already be searching for an upgrade?

In the player's defence frequent reshuffling, due to fitness, form and the sale of Virgil van Dijk, has made it hard to establish a regular partnership and a record of four yellow cards and one red doesn't point to any disciplinary issues given his position.

Boyata himself discussed the possibility of Champions League exclusion earlier this month following reports of a new European Super League led by the European Club Association.

"There are still big things to achieve here. But, of course, the Champions League is a big tournament. If you couldn’t play unless you were at a big club, it would kill players’ dreams.

"A lot of players are looking for these kind of games because they are the most important games and you want to be able to play in them. We have to qualify first, but if those games are taken away from you, if you only have certain countries who can play in the tournament, I think there would be a lot of unhappy players out there."

Boyata and his manager have plenty of work to do to ensure they are not sitting on the sidelines looking in once more when the continent's biggest club competition gets under way next season.

Three was the magic number for Motherwell after Mark McGhee’s tactical reshuffle resulted in a comprehensive home win over Partick Thistle.

Marvin Johnson was moved from the wing to an attacking role alongside Scott McDonald and Louis Moult in the 3-1 home triumph.

McGhee made the switch to deal specifically with problems Johnson was encountering but found an attacking blend that drew the best out of his new-look front line.

“The boy's attitude is unbelievable,” McGhee said. “He was getting battered and I didn't feel he was getting a lot of protection from referees, so I felt I had to take him out the left-hand side.

“I wasn't going to put him in a wide area because I wanted to free him up a bit so we went to the three.

“When you play three players like that up front they have got to make it work and the three of them were terrific. That was the key to it.”

The Motherwell boss’ move was also appreciated by the opposition with midfielder Stuart Bannigan admitting his team couldn’t cope with the home side’s three-pronged attack.

“They outmatched us all over the park,” Bannigan said. “It was a different formation they played and it maybe spooked us a wee bit. They put three up front and kept our full backs very quiet.”

Victory saw the Steelmen move up to eighth in the table and top scorer Louis Moult believes their new formation can work until the end of the campaign.

“It was a little bit of an interchange with the three of us,” he added.

“We didn’t really have a position as such, we linked up really well at times. Myself, Marvin and Scotty all bring something different to the game and I think it definitely worked.”

The big question now is whether the Motherwell boss sticks with the front-heavy formation in the coming weeks.

This midweek brings the Lanarkshire derby, followed by a home match against resurgent Dundee United. The games could go a long way to pulling 'Well clear of the danger zone and while there's risk in changing things up at a crucial time, sticking with a fresh approach that paid off in style on Saturday could bring further reward.

After the visit of the Tangerines, Motherwell's last three pre-split fixtures see Aberdeen and Celtic come to town, with a trip to Inverness in between. After that it's the dog-eat-dog drama of the bottom six so there may not be a better time to try the attacking trio once again.

"So much for bottlers, eh?"

Just a month ago, Hibernian manager Alan Stubbs saw his side reach the League Cup final and he couldn't resist having a pop back at critics who said his side always failed to hold their nerve at crucial moments of the season.

With his team powering through both cup competitions and keeping the pressure on Rangers at the top of the Championship, he felt it was the right time to address the jeers, and at the time he seemed right.

Just four weeks later, victory over city rivals Hearts in the Scottish Cup has kept the team's impressive knockout record going but league results have seen their title challenge fizzle out.

A 0-0 draw against Livingston that occurred between the first cup derby and the replay seemed a blip, and a 3-0 win over Alloa with a reshuffled team looked to put the side back on track.

A co mprehensive defeat to Morton last week has now been followed by a 3-2 loss to Dumbarton and instead of looking at catching Rangers in the last 10 games, Stubbs will be looking at keeping a grip on the runners-up spot.

Falkirk lurk just two points behind and with the two cups either acting as a distraction or a boost, Hibs now face a test of their character in the league run-in.

A side that has looked allergic to the idea of momentum at times could be heading for the play-offs on a high and relishing the prospect of tangling with Premiership strugglers if all goes well.

If the current poor spell continues though, they could find themselves battling to reach the final from third place and with the "bottlers" tag revived.